London, 28 June 2016 - Registered media attending this year’s Business & Climate Summit are invited to join us for an opening press conference that will be held at the Guildhall immediately prior to the official opening of the Summit.

It will provide an opportunity for the international media to hear from, and question, some of the leading speakers on the opening day of the Summit before they give their own speeches to the assembled audience of global business leaders, investors and policymakers.

Ms. Figueres will be making her last major international speech as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. She will be urging businesses to accelerate the climate actions they have already begun taking over the last year.

'The Business End of Climate Change’ report, will be launched at the Press Conference. The Report has been produced by the We Mean Business coalition in partnership with CDP, formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project, and analysis from the New Climate Institute.

It will put a figure – in billions of tonnes per year – on the reduction of CO2 equivalent emissions by 2030 that business is committed to through climate action on five key initiatives; and a further figure (again in the reduction of CO2 equivalent emissions by 2030) on what more could be achieved with business and governments working collaboratively to achieve the right policy environment for enhanced climate action.

Mr. Howard will outline the report’s findings and recommendations and Paul Simpson, CEO of CDP, will be available to answer technical questions on the report.

The Summit will set out how business can and must take advantage of a swift transition to a climate resilient, low carbon economy. It will hear from a wide range of global CEOs and international policymakers including: Stuart Gulliver, CEO, HSBC; Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman & CEO, Total; Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever; Rana Kapoor, Founder, MD and CEO, Yes Bank; Felipe Calderón, Former President of Mexico and Chair of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate; Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP; Gérard Mestrallet, Chairman, Paris EUROPLACE, Chairman, ENGIE; Rachel Kyte, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL); Sir Roger Gifford, Chairman, City of London’s Green Finance Initiative; Roberto Azevêdo, World Trade Organization Director-General; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Former Finance Minister, Nigeria; Mahendra Singhi, CEO and Whole Time Director, Dalmia Cement (Bharat); and Jean-Dominique Senard, CEO, Michelin.

Mark Kenber, CEO of The Climate Group, who are the organizing partners of the Business & Climate Summit, will make some brief welcoming remarks.

Following short opening remarks from the three principal speakers, there will be a question and answer session in which members of the media will be invited to pose their questions to the members of the panel.

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